Scandal chic for fall: how low you can go

August 21, 1998|By Maureen Dowd

IN THE NEW Tommy Hilfiger ad, a luscious young woman with cascading hair, pouty mouth, black leather pants and bare feet is curled on top of the president's desk, casting a come-hither look. The American flag is behind her.

In another shot, the babe is squatting on the blue Oval Office rug, her knees over the presidential seal, her eager face looking up.

Scandal chic has come to Madison Avenue. Patriotism and titillation -- a winning combination to hawk backpacks and loafers.

Though a Hilfiger spokeswoman denied any connection, the ad is clearly a mischievous allusion to Monica and Bill. It is a landmark in advertising history to use the White House to conjure up an image of sexual high jinks.

The press release announcing the fall clothing campaign, shot on sets from the movies "Dave" and "The American President," is unintentionally hilarious: "This campaign showcases the optimistic spirit and energy of classic Americanism," said the designer Tommy Hilfiger. "We wanted to use as a theme what the White House represents to the American people -- a symbol of hope. Our White House is all inclusive. Anyone could be president."

A Los Angeles computer retailer ran an ad in The Los Angeles Times boasting that its prices were "dropping faster than the president's pants." The Los Angeles Times also reported that the White House complained to Excite, an Internet search-engine company, about its ad suggesting that Clinton's handwriting showed a desire to "buy lingerie for that special someone."

This is the first scandal with product placement. Donna Karan, the Gap, Starbucks, Black Dog and Barnes & Noble have had cameos.

Jerry Della Femina, the Republican advertising executive, blames the president for setting a climate that gives advertisers permission "to make fun of the office. It's time I brought back Joe Isuzu."

Donny Deutsch, the advertising executive who worked on the Clinton campaign, thinks the Hilfiger ad will enhance the president's allure.

"The Hilfiger ad glamorizes the scandal, brings it to true fantasy as opposed to the tawdry reality," he says. "A beautiful young woman in the most powerful universe in the world. It's right out of a romance novel. A young maiden in a castle. It adds to Clinton's potency."

He's curious to see what endorsement deals Monica is offered. "She is the woman who almost brought down the free world," he said.

At the television critics' tour in Pasadena last month, the UPN network unveiled a sitcom called "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer," set in Abraham Lincoln's White House, which jokes that Mrs. Lincoln's mental illness might be the result of sexual frustration and that President Lincoln occasionally longs for the companionship of young boys.

The producers acknowledged that the excesses of the Clinton White House had helped make any presidency fair game for ridicule.

It's hard to get that moral authority thing rolling when the White House is polling to see whether or not the president should tell the truth.

Mr. Clinton has condemned himself to provide lurid entertainment for a society addicted to lurid entertainment.

In the '92 race, Mr. Clinton said he wanted to be at the center of a national conversation. Whoever imagined the conversation would be so salacious? So far, we have discussed: What is sex? Does a president have the right to cheat on his wife? Should the public care about infidelity if the wife doesn't? Is private consensual sex the proper domain of a special prosecutor? Is extramarital sex the one thing a husband should lie about? What is a lie?

Covering Ronald Reagan, we avoided the word "lying," though Mr. Reagan was prone to spin myths and say black was white. It just seemed too disrespectful of the office. Now, it is common. If you do a search in Lexis-Nexis with "President Clinton" and "lie," the computer replies: "Your search has been interrupted because it will probably retrieve more than 1,000 documents."